AztecSportsReport.com - Williams hits the beach to find a new game

November 5, 2009

Tom Shanahan
AztecSportsReport.com Senior Writer

San Diego State junior Jerica Williams looked for a new game this past offseason, and she may found it in a place especially suited for a San Diego athlete: the beach.

When Williams, from Spring Valley Mount Miguel, picked going away to college at UCLA over playing for hometown San Diego State, one basketball factor she didn't weigh was going on beach runs with her father.

After one unfulfilling year at UCLA, she transferred home to play for the Aztecs, sitting out the 2007-08 season as a redshirt before playing a reserve role as a sophomore in a 2008-09 season that had its peaks and valleys.

And now that the 5-foot-8 guard is back home, those beach runs with her father, Stanley McCrae, may make the difference in her career.

Williams, along with a better diet, has shed 15 pounds as she opens the 2009-10 season for the NCAA-tournament tested Aztecs.

SDSU, ranked among the "others" in both the AP and ESPN/USA Today polls, plays an exhibition game at 7 p.m. Friday against Point Loma Nazarene College at the on-campus newly named Viejas Arena.

"I started distance running this summer on the beach with my Dad," Williams said. "My Dad is an older guy, but he can push me; he's a runner. He's always running in front of me, with me three or for feet back."

In high school, Williams dominated her peers with quickness and 3-point shooting, but she found at the college level she wasn't as quick as she thought. Hence, she was one of many Aztecs women's basketball players that focused on changing their bodies after the second-round NCAA tournament loss to a much bigger and stronger Stanford squad.

"She worked with our strength coach, Jon Francis, in the offseason, and when we saw her again she passed the eyeball test," SDSU women's coach Beth Burns said. "It was, 'Wow!' She's a lot quicker. She wants to be able to do more things this year. She understands our style of play."

Williams, who came off the bench to hit two key 3-point shots in SDSU's first-round NCAA tournament upset of DePaul, wants to run the court more this year. She wants to play the up-and-down-the-court style of senior guards Jene Morris, an honorable mention All-American last year, and Quenese Davis, the school's career assist leader, that drove SDSU to share of the Mountain West Conference regular-season title.

"After the season I met with the coaches to talk about what I needed to do to improve my game," Williams said. "I always knew I was quick, but I go against Jene and Quenese a lot in practice, so I knew I needed to be quicker. I want to be more than a spot-up shooter."

Williams played in 31 games, averaging 4.9 points with a .388 shooting percentage from 3-point range. But she wants to improve her minutes played as well as her shoot .400 or better on 3-pointers.

She struggled down the stretch of the MWC regular-season and didn't see many minutes in the MWC tournament when the Aztecs lost to Utah in the final, but she kept working in practice. Burns noticed and said she went by "a gut instinct" when she used Williams for increased minutes in the DePaul upset.

Williams responded with 2-of-4 from 3-point range for six points. Her 17 minutes also allowed a rest for the starters before getting back on the court for the intensity of an NCAA tournament opponent.

"After the Mountain West Conference tournament, I decided I just needed to relax," Williams said. "I knew that I could play at this level. I just wanted to help my team and show people I could play at this level."

Burns added, "She came through in a big way. We don't beat DePaul without Jerica Williams."

And she answered that to be or not to be question about going away to college or staying home: hometown hero is better.

Contact Tom Shanahan at shanny4055@aol.com.

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